The Rose Mutation
by Plot-Bunny-Madness
Summary: All I wanted was a cupcake from the new bakery. What I got was a snake lady and a scene from a scary movie. The snake lady ate my dad and now I am stuck with really cool mutant plant powers. According to this girl named Annabeth, I'm just a demigod. I'll still call myself Botanical Girl. I'll be a superhero even if I'm a demigod. That sounds no where near as cool as mutant.
1. Cupcake

She Will be Loved by Maroon 5

Be My Escape (Acoustic)

_by_ Relient K

Fall For You

_by_ Secondhand Serenade

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It was my tenth birthday and all I wanted was a cupcake. Just one little cupcake from this new bakery was all I wanted for my birthday. I had finally made straight C's on my report card AND I had gotten through an entire school year without any slip ups. When I walked inside it smelled like the bread aisle of the grocery store but then the nice warm picture before me would just... flicker.

It started to change between this warm cozy place full of delicious, freshly baked breads and pastries to an old shop where the pink and red wall paper was peeling, the painting on the wall of a large, pink cupcake with a cherry on top randomly got claw marks like it had been slashed numerous times. Even the pastries and breads would randomly start to look green with mold and the entire place would just randomly start to smell like a combination of Siracha, blood, and rotten meat rather than the smell of cookies right out of the oven. And the woman behind the counter would just randomly not look human... at all.

She would randomly have pitch black eyes with no eye whites or irises like someone had colored over them with a sharpie. Her skin would randomly go from a really nice olivey skin tone to green scales and her legs would turn into the bottom half of a snake. And her hair would turn into this gross, stringy mess of black and red.

"Uhh... Dad?" I started to pull on his hand when the horrifying picture and smell didn't flicker anymore but stayed and she started hissing. My jaw was chattering and I knew I looked paler than paper. My hand was shaking. I did not want a cupcake anymore.

"Yes? Hey, you look pretty pale. Are you okay?" Does he not see this monster in front of him or the rest of this shop?

"No. Not really. I don't feel to good."

"Maybe some pastry will help her stomach." The woman behind the counter talked like a stereotypical snake. She held out each 'S' like a hiss.

"N-no Ma'am. I really don't think sugar would help my stomach." I tried to hide behind my father.

"Do you want to go outside for a bit? I can get the cupcake you wanted."

"No! Don't buy me a cupcake! Please!" I started pleading with him to not buy me a cupcake. "Can't you see this place? I just want to go home!"

"What on earth are you talking about? This place looks lovely!"

"No it doesn't!" I felt like I was going to start crying. I wanted to leave. I didn't want to be there another second. I was afraid of the snake lady.

"Is she insulting my shop?" There she was with the hissing 'S' again.

"No no. She's just sick is all. Come on, hon." He tried to pat down my long, wavy blonde hair. I was about to be sick if I had to stay there another second.

Then the snake lady pounced onto my father and began to devour him. I screamed as loud as I possibly could and ran out of the store. When I got out I ran into two teenagers holding hands. One had black hair the other had curly blonde hair.

"Help me, help me please! A scary snake lady ate my dad and I don't know what to do!" I started to plead with them. I was panicking and towards the end I started crying.

"Did you just say snake lady?" The blonde girl said. She crouched down to my level.

"Yes! She had green scaly skin, black eyes with no eye whites, and her legs were snakes!"

"Get back here young demigod! You never got your cupcake!" She started coming out of the shop and I shook like a leaf.

"Go on Wise Girl! I got this!" The boy with black hair and sea green eyes stayed behind while the blond girl, Wise Girl, scooped me up and started running in the other direction. I hung on to her for all I was worth. I kept shutting my eyes and opening them because all I could see was the snake lady over and over again.

Wise Girl took me to an apartment building.

"Sally!"

"What's wrong?" A lady walked out of the kitchen. She had long brown hair that had some strands of grey in it. She looked really young though and she had kind blue eyes, and laugh lines. She had a worried look on her face.

"Where's Percy? Who's this?" She moved to take me from the girl with blond hair.

"Snake lady... The boy with green eyes was fighting the snake lady."

"Snake lady?" The woman, Sally looked at Wise Girl for an explanation.

"Dracanae. Percy told me to go ahead with her."

"Yeah. Percy told her to go ahead so she brought me here... but my dad..."

"What happened to your dad, Dear?"

"I finally got through a year of school without getting kicked out and I had all C's on my report card. As a reward my dad said we could do whatever I wanted. All I wanted was a cupcake from the new bakery nearby. When I first got inside everything was normal. Then everything just started to flicker between cozy shop to a scene out of a scary movie or something. Then the scene just stuck there and I begged my dad to leave but he didn't see what I saw and then the snake lady pounced on him and ate him!" I just kept on screaming and crying. Then the door burst open and I hid my face in Sally's shoulder.

"Where is she?"

"Percy, please try and be a bit quieter. Poor thing is scared to death."

"Sorry, Mom."

"Thank you for helping me Wise Girl and Percy." Percy started laughing at me.

"Why are YOU calling me Wise Girl?"

"Percy called you Wise Girl. I don't have anything else to call you though."

"Call me Annabeth."

"So, Squirt, You hungry?" The boy with Green eyes asked me. I shook my head no. With what I just saw I felt sick to my stomach.

"Percy, She looks kind of pale and sick."

"It's okay. I didn't eat anything today yet so I really shouldn't be. My breakfast was supposed to be that cupcake." I really didn't want to touch the ground yet.

"Ms. Sally?"

"Yes?"

"Can we sit on the couch?"

"I have to finish making lunch. Percy? Annabeth? I want you both to take care of her while I finish making lunch." She passed me over to Percy. He smelled like the ocean and the beach.

"Do you have any plants around here?" I missed the sweet smell of plants.

"No. I don't think so. The only plant there really is her is a plant that is practically dead."

"Let me see it. Please?" Percy and Annabeth just looked at each other. Percy just shrugged and left the room.

"Do you like plants?"

"I love plants." Percy came back with the plant and I felt a sharp twang in my chest. It was shrivled and brown He moved towards the trash can with it.

"No! Don't throw it away! Let me have it! Bring me all the plants in your house, dead or alive." They both looked at me like I was insane. "Pretty please?" Percy just sighed and brought me all the plants. There were seven total. There was a Freesia, Forget-me-nots, Irises, a red Queen Anne's Lace and some flowers of them looked like paint brushes. All were brittle and dead.

"Didn't you ever water these?" I stared at a dead, dark purple flower on the Queen Anne's Lace. My dad never let me have any plants in the house. My mom was a gardener and she abandoned us. Plants reminded him too much of her. Which led me to question how I knew what these plants were. I shook my head. These plants were dead. I couldn't bring them back to life and yet that little nagging part of me in the back of my head whispered for me to try it.

"Can you two go get me some water please? We're going to need a lot of it." They just kept looking at me like I was insane but Annabeth had a sudden spark of recognition. She nodded with a small smirk and dragged Percy out of the room.

I gently touched the tip of the flower and felt a small tingle. The flower sparked back to life.

"Woah. It's beautiful." I stared at the plant in awe. If only my dad could have seen this. He always loved superheroes. Maybe that's what I am... A Superhero like in all the movies we always watched. But really I would be a mutant right? I shall have the mutant name of Botanical Girl! Because my real name is Rose. How fitting to my newfound mutant power.

"Hey, kid, we're back with the water," Percy said. I just kept staring at the plant amazed. "Woah! Wasn't that flower just dead?"

"I knew it. Water the plants Seaweed brain." Soon each plant had dirt that was essentially mud rather than the bone dry soil they were originally housed in. Suddenly It felt like my hand was being guided to the base of the Queen Anne's Lace. I felt a tingle throughout my body and the soil became a little less mud and I could see the water race up the stalks of the plant that was slowly turning green again. The plant ended up being fuller and more beautiful than ever before.

"Oh my gosh. I'm a mutant like in the X-Men! I shall be called Botanical Girl! Why didn't they show up sooner!? I could have wrapped the snake lady in vines that would wrap tighter the more she struggled. Maybe even a giant Venus Flytrap. I could have saved him." I looked down and clenched my fists. I hated that I just now discovered that I was a mutant. I could have done something. I could have let my father live.

"Hey. You were scared. You should be glad it wasn't you. It's going to happen more in the future. At least in the future you will be able to save more people."

"Why on EARTH would I be happy it wasn't me?! I would much rather it be me than the people I love. I hate this. It should have been me." I, Rose Demetrius, have officially failed at being a mutant. I suck at life.

"Because that means you can go on and make them proud that they died for you." Annabeth said. She gave me a large smile. I felt like I was so small. Insignificant like a bug. I loathed the feeling. I was being scrutinized under a microscope. Then Sally announced that the blue waffles were done and I got sick.

"I don't know if I want to be a mutant."

"You're not a mutant. You're a demigod."

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**And so is the end of chapter one. Give me your feedback and review please! :)**


	2. Strawberry Fertilizer

"What's a demigod? Wait. Demigod? Like Thor?" Oh. My. Gosh. I'm Asguardian! Coolness!

"No. However cool that would be, no. Unless you use Thoreal." I internally thanked Percy for setting that up. I flipped my hair.

"I use Thoreal! Because I'm worth it." I said with a fake man voice. I frowned immediately after I said that. My dad and I would do that all the time. To think that I would never have another Marvel Movie night. Maybe I can pass it on to my friends? What friends though? Percy had a small half smile.

"What Percy meant to saw was... Do you know of any Greek Mythology?" Annabeth knelt to get down to my level.

"Not really, no," I bluntly stated. I didn't even know Greece had a mythology. I thought that was just the Nordic countries and Egypt. The only reason I even knew Norway had a mythology was Marvel.

"Well. Greek mythology had twelve main gods and goddesses. Hera was the goddess of family and was the queen. She was married to Zeus. Zeus was the King and god of the skies and rain and thunder. Zeus had two brothers. Poseidon and Hades. Poseidon ruled over the seas and was called the earthshaker. Hades was the lord of the underworld. There was Demeter, she was the goddess of the harvest. She brought winter and fall. There was Ares, God of War. Athena, a goddess of strategy and wisdom. Apollo, the sun god as well as music god. His sister Artemis was the goddess of the moon and the hunt. Hephaestus was the got of fire and forges. Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty. Hermes was the god of Travelers, doctors, and thievery. And then there was Dionysus, god of wine and parties." I'm pretty sure that if I don't stop her now, she will go on forever.

"That was thirteen."

"Huh?" Annabeth snapped out of it.

"You said twelve primary ones. You just listed off thirteen."

"Well Hades is an exception. Anyways. All of that was real and they would have children with mortals. Those children were called demigods or halfbloods," Percy stated.

"So what your saying is that I have magical powers because my mother has super ultra powerful magical powers... I'm still going to call myself a mutant." Annabeth and Percy just sighed. "My dad would have been proud to have a mutant daughter. Mutant and Proud. Are you two mutants?

"By mortal standards, yes. We are. By our standards. We are Demigods. I, as a child of Athena don't have any real powers per say but I am highly intelligent as are my siblings and I am good with crafts and such. Percy here has the power of hydrokinesis."

"The power of hydro what now?" Percy then made a giant ball of water.

"That's awesome!"

"Percy, no powers at the table."

"Sorry, Mom." Percy put the water back in his glass and ate his waffles.

"Mrs. Percy's mom?"

"Yes?"

"Do you have any powers?" She started grinning like she was trying to withhold laughter.

"No. I am a completely normal person."

"Oh. Okay. Who is Percy's godly parent?"

"Poseidon."

"Really? Does this mean that Percy can become a merman?" She started laughing at the thought.

"I'm not sure? Can you Percy?" Annabeth said teasingly. Percy paused for a second. He was obviously thinking about it. It's sad that he has to think about if he has transformed from a biped into a... fishped? A fishped.

"I've never tried to be honest."

"Maybe you should. See what happens," I suggested.

"Or you could ask your father," Sally said. After we all finished breakfast I stayed where I was. It felt weird to just randomly be in some strangers home eating their waffles.

"So when are we taking her to camp?" Percy asked his mother.

"Camp? What camp?" I asked.

"Camp Halfblood is one of the only places people like us are safe. We need to take you there so you can learn how to defend yourself. You can also meet your siblings there," Annabeth explained.

"I have siblings?"

"Yeah. There's Katie, Miranda, and Aster," Percy listed off on his fingers. I am the fourth child then? Okay then.

"You'll meet them at camp. Come on. Let's go get in the car and head off, shall we?" Sally jangled the car keys and soon we were off to Camp Half Blood.

I just watched the scenery as we passed by all the houses and landscape to get to camp. We pulled up to a whole bunch of strawberry fields.

"This is your stop guys."

"This is a field. Of strawberries. I see no camp. You guys are secretly serial killers aren't you? And now you're going to use my body as fertilizer for the strawberry bushes aren't you?" Ah the conspiracy theories.

"What on Ear- No! Just no!" Annabeth said once we got out of the car. Sally laughed and drove home. I turned to run and leave but Percy and Annabeth picked my up by my arms and dragged me over the hill.

"No! No no no no no! I don't want to be fertilizer! I just want to grow plants! You know, not with my decaying flesh! Let me go! Let me go! Pretty please! I can grow you however many strawberries you want with my awesome mutant powers! Mutant and proud world! Mutant! And! Proud!" Then I was dropped in front of a pretty white stallion. I then noticed that it was not a stallion but a centaur and he was giving me the weirdest look. Probably because of Percy and Annabeth.

"Child... You are not going to be used for fertilizer that idea is rather insulting. Also please. Calm down. I am Chiron. A centaur and activities director of camp."

"You... Centaur." Then I passed out.

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	3. Easter Bunny Rooftops

When I woke up I was in some place that reminded me of a hospital but not quite like a hospital. An infirmary. Everything around me was an insanity inducing shade of white. At the current moment in time my vision was pretty blurry.

"Dad?" I muttered to myself. I was rubbing my eyes tiredly and I saw a figure with blonde hair an blue eyes next to me. Then my vision returned to normal I saw it was not who I thought it was and I remembered that my dad was somewhere in a snake lady's stomach. Such a lovely thought. The guy next to me winced.

"Sorry, kid."

"Don't call me kid. A kid is a baby goat not a human child."

"Well how about a name?" This guy seemed cool.

"Rose. Rose Demetrius. What's yours?"

"I'm a guy they like to call Will. Will Solace. Son of Apollo, god of healing and medicine. The other guys here are named Travis and Connor Stoll. Sons of Hermes, god of doctors."

"Cool. I'm the daughter of Logan. Man of ultimate awesome." The guy, Will, chuckled and ruffled my hair.

"Welcome to camp, Rose. You're free to go."

"Thanks, Will. Bye!" I hopped off the bed and ran off. Since I'm going to have to live here I might as well explore a little bit. So this is my new life. This will definitely be different. I wandered an old, beaten path towards this series of buildings. There were about twenty or so buildings. They kind of reminded me of Cabins but they were bigger. They're probably to accommodate how ever many kids are in the cabin. I wonder if they magically expand and contract based on the amount of kids they have.

I went to the two biggest cabins and tried to read the lettering. For once it was easy to read which was kind of shocking.

"Ze-us and He-rah. I probably didn't say them right."

"You didn't." I nearly jumped out of my skin at the comment. I looked behind me and unsurprisingly there was a girl there who looked a bit like Annabeth, but they were a lot closer to my age and she was wearing a white bandana with owls on it and a really pretty owl necklace.

"Can you help me out with their names then?"

"Sure. Their names are Zeus and Hera. On the left side in the main part which has more campers is Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus, and Hermes. To the right on the main part is Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Dionysus." She pointed out each cabin as she said them. I liked the way the Demeter cabin looked and smelled. It had the sweet smell of plants and I swore I smelled melting chocolate. Sure enough, there were Bunnies all over the roof of the cabin.

"Well there goes the pattern I was making. I thought Dionysus was male?"

"He is. Hestia stepped down. She is the maiden goddess of the hearth. When she stepped down Dionysus took her place."

"Oh. He screwed up the perfect balance between male and female. What's up with that all black one down there?"

"That's cabin 13. Hades."

"Thanks helping me out with the names and stuff. I never would have gotten them right otherwise. And don't scare people like that. You're going to give someone a heart attack!" She laughed at me.

"It's funny though."

"True. Bye!"

"Bye." I walked in a different direction, away from those huge woods, away from the infirmary, and away from the cabins. I heard the clashing of metal.

"What on Earth is that? It kind of sounds like Wolverine's Claws. This is a place where you're supposed to be safe right? Why would someone be duking it out with blades?" I edged towards the arena. It was like a mutant battle or something. in one corner there was this girl with long, dark blonde hair in a braid down her back and brown eyes. She had knives all around her and a whole bunch of vines around her. At the other end was a guy. He had his back to me, so I couldn't really see what he looked like, but I do know that he wasn't wearing what most of the people here were wearing. His shirt was blood red and he had a buzz cut. He had a sword. All of the weapons made of metal were bronze. They looked like they were glowing.

The girl adjusted her stance and shot her hand forward. Some of the vines wrapped around the guy's feet. The crowd cheered. He slashed the vines and advanced forward. He did some weird move and the plants were cut. The knife flew from her hand and the sword was at her throat. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands. The crowd flew up in cheers. I shut my eyes tight. I thought that the camp was a safe place!

"Dead." I didn't hear her die. I never heard a thud. I heard a shink as he put back his sword. What just happened? I opened my eyes and they were shaking hands like nothing had happened.

"What?" I whispered to myself. Then I hid back behind the building I was next to when I heard footsteps.

"Now. I thought I saw a little one over here." She looked in the six inch gap between the shed and the fence. She saw my shadow and I slapped my forehead because I forgot which way the shadow's went. She jumped over the fence and smiled at me.

"I haven't seen you before."

"I haven't seen you before either."

"Hi. I'm Katie Gardener. What's your name?" she extended her hand.

"I'm Rose Demetrius. I just got here today," I said quietly. I shook her hand.

"So. You saw me spar huh?"

"A little. You have mutant plant powers too?"

"Yeah. I kind of got them from my mom though."

"That's where Percy and Annabeth said I got mine from."

"Really? Do you know who she is?"

"Not really. I like the Demeter cabin though. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Why were there Easter bunnies on the roof?" Her eye started twitching. She stood up fully and yelled to the sky.

"STOLLS!" From far off into the distance, I heard the cackling of two guys.

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**HI! I think this one is a bit shorter than the others, but I felt like it should end there with her meeting Katie. Please review! :) **


	4. The point between serenity and rage

"Who are the Stolls?"

"They like to prank the Demeter cabin. Primarily me since I'm the leader. Their favorite thing to do is put easter bunnies on the roof. Then the ants come and they then eat the fruits and vegetables we like to grow." She put her hand on her forehead.

"That sounds awful."

"It is. We even put traps up and they still got them up there."

"Why not use pesticide? They are pests." She smiled at me.

"If only it were that simple."

"If only." At least she smiled.

"So. Why did you say mutant plant powers earlier."

"My dad and I were huge marvel fans. We always dreamed of one of us being a mutant, but some snake lady ate him today which is why I had to come here." I looked down at the ground. I felt a hand on my head.

"It'll be okay. I understand why you say mutant instead of halfblood. Besides, when you really think of it the term halfblood sounds a little offensive."

"Yeah. It does sound offensive. Why were you and that guy battling?"

"We were sparring. It's to make sure we can defend ourselves later on."

"Defend yourselves from what?"

"Monsters." She paused for a second. "You ask a lot of questions."

"I just got here. I don't know how things work. I met this one centaur then I passed out. I just got out of the infirmary." I shrugged. She started walking so I just followed her. So far, of all the people I had met, she was my favorite.

"Follow me. We're going to go to the strawberry fields."

"Why?"

"I want to see if you can do something there. Is that okay with you?" She asked. I just nodded and followed her. I wonder if she can teach me how to do what she did in the arena. It looked really cool.

"Hey, Katie?"

"Yeah, Rose?"

"You should have used vines with thorns. They could have caused him a little bit of harm and stalled him while you attacked. You could have won."

"I know I could have."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Winning's not everything, Rosie," She smiled like she knew something I didn't. She probably did. When we got to the strawberry field she took me to a couple of bushes that were dead.

"Can you bring these three back to life for me?"

"I can try." I held out a hand. I wasn't really sure what to do at all. All of my movement felt forced. So I stopped. I stared at the plant and I was sure that if it had eyes, it would be staring at me. I took a deep breath and took off my socks and shoes. The ground here felt dry and sandy. That's not right. That's not right soil at all.

"The ground is sandy here. It's not right for plants to grow."

"Then try to fix it, okay?"

"How do I fix it? What time is it anyways?"

"It's nine in the morning. I'm going to go tend to my other activities. I want you to report back to me when you're done with this. If you can't then I still want you to report back to me, okay?"

"Okay Katie." Then she left me alone in a strawberry field. I didn't know what to do. How does one fix bad soil and bring strawberry plants to life? Then I was pushed down by two males. Well. Not pushed down. More like they ran into me. I fell into the strawberry plants.

They hid in the dense foliage of strawberries, occaisionally stealing a few. They looked identical and had brown hair and blue eyes. I crouched down to their level.

"Who are you?"

"Shhh! We're the Stoll brothers! We're hiding from Katie. Now keep quiet!" I glared at them.

"Get out of the strawberry fields. You really shouldn't be eating them anyways!"

"Why not?" The one on the left challenged. I glared more and the straw berries all started getting darker. Like how gross strawberries look. Oh great. I broke the strawberry bushes.

"Because Stoll! You're making me mad which is making the strawberries and soil all gross!" Both of them froze for a second.

"She sounds like Katie."

"Get out of my strawberry fields, Stolls!" I clenched my fists and grit my teeth. They popped another strawberry into their mouths and then their faces turned. They hopped up and ran away. Then I felt bad for screwing up the strawberries even more. I plopped down on the ground. What am I going to do? I decided to pull a comic out of my back pack and think of a solution after I read some good material. X-Men.

After I ran out of comic books there was this one really loud horn. I noticed all the kids running towards one place. It reminded me on salad days at school. Mmm... Salads. I wonder what each of the X-men prefer on theirs... Most of all what the differences between young magneto from first class and from the later movies were. I shot up from my laying position on the ground. I closed my eyes and heard the voice of young Professor.

"A point between serenity and rage, huh?" I slowly held my hands out to the strawberries. I remembered Marvel Movie nights with my dad. I just remembered my dad in general. I felt myself start to cry. I felt my energy start to sap away. When I was finished the soil was good, the strawberries were perfect, and I just wanted to curl up and sleep my life away. I couldn't use my powers like that. There had to be another way.

Then I fell collapsed in the strawberry fields with no one around me. I was all alone.

* * *

When I woke up after passing out for the second time. It was night time. I ate a strawberry just to try it. It tasted like how I like my strawberries. I did it! I fixed them. I started to chuckle weakly. I could be the next most powerful mutant.

I was too exhausted to get up and find somewhere to sleep. I opened my eyes wearily and I saw some giant golden wheat above my head. I saw the lights of flashlights quickly go out.

"Chiron! I found her! Over here!" Why were they being so loud? I just want to go back to sleep. I closed my eyes again.

"Demeter," I heard a man's voice. Then someone picked me up. It was a girl.

"Good job, Rosie. You did good today. Now get some rest, kiddo."

"Don't... Call me... kid." Then I fell asleep again.

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**Hey guys! Yes. I updated two times in one day. Believe it. Please review! :) **

**Is this soon enough TheBookMouse ;) **


	5. Mommy

That night, my thoughts continuously swirled in my head. There were no dreams. Just words. It was like I was reading my own book of thought. I remembered ever marvel character I had ever seen. I remembered every book I didn't read but just watched the movie because reading was too hard. There was a song in the background of it all. Safe and sound with a piano.

If there was ever a moment where I didn't want to be different, it would be now. I wanted to be abnormal with my dad. I never intended to be abnormal alone. Mutant and proud? I never realized the blood behind those words but I suppose I am. I am mutant and proud. I'm proud to be different and my father would be too. His mind would be blown away if he were here. But so is life right? Everything comes at a cost. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The cost for my dad loving my mom. My happy childhood. Being here. Having powers. Knowing how to use them. The cost for all of this was my father. My awesome father.

I'm going to have to accept this at some point aren't I? I suppose now is the time to come to terms with this. I'll likely be out for a while since it was the first time using my powers. I don't know if my mother would be proud. I don't know how I'll fit in at camp. I don't know a lot of things.

While I've been going through school I was always shunned for being different, but I never really cared. I had my heroes and my dad. Both of which were always pretty similar. I never wanted to be the princess. I never cared about my hair and my clothes. I just wanted to help people. Be the superhero so many kids needed. I just want to be a superhero. I wear super hero tee shirts and watch every superhero movie. I'm hooked. I always wanted to be one. I just never knew the price of what it would take to become a real super hero. It takes hard work, lots of time, and a whole bunch of determination. I suppose it's a good thing I'm only ten.

While I was internally talking to myself in my sleep, a warm golden glow started to come along and I was pulled into a field of wheat. A ways away was a very pretty lady with long golden hair that was the color of ripe wheat and big brown eyes. She was smiling widely at me. Who was this lady.

"Rosie." She looked like she was about to cry. She hugged me.

"Who are you?"

"Don't you recognize me?"

"Nope." She stared at me and stroked my hair down.

"I am your mother. Demeter."

"That sounds like my last name. Demetrius." She nodded and then she hugged me again.

"I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"Not helping you yesterday."

"It's not your fault. It's mine. I could have tried to do something but instead I was a coward. I did nothing. That's not what a true superhero does."

"Don't say that. You are only ten years of age as of yesterday. You were scared."

"I don't know why, though. I'm going to go through worse. People go through worse than that every day. I just have to suck it up and move on." She gave me a sad look.

"How are you so strong?"

"I had good genes." She laughed. I make people do that a lot. I really don't know how.

"I do try to make it a point to visit my children on the day they come to camp, you know."

"Why?"

"Because I find that is one of the times they need me most." Then she randomly decided to just cradle me I guess. I'm not really sure of the correct term. Then she sung me to sleep. Or would it be wake since I'm already asleep. She sung Safe and sound to me. Then I remember nodding off. Then I woke up. It was weird. I'm not sure how to explain it really. I fell asleep then woke up.

I opened my eyes and was in a green room with white trim, and bunk beds. The floors were hardwood and it smelled sweet like plants. Like flowers. Like Demeter. I rolled over to my eyes and I noticed a wet spot on my pillow.

"Mommy." I decided to get my lazy bum out of bed. All of the beds were empty. Many were haphazardly made. My sheets were grey with flowers of pink and purple. Looking around I noticed all the plants. It felt like... home. But a different kind of home. I noticed that above the bed with the name plate of Aster there was a poster of many heroes. I think I'll get along with this Aster. When I started to get out of bed I winced. My muscles all hurt. I would have to get up eventually. Might as well get up now. Then I noticed I was wearing a yellow night gown with flowers in the lower right corner and in the upper right corner.

"Where are my clothes?" I muttered to myself. I opened all the drawers of the nightstand next to my bed. Nothing. I checked the trunk at the end of my bed. Nothing again. I looked at the two most feminine names and went to their beds. Of the two, Miranda's clothes fit the best. I stole some of her shorts and I stole a belt that was white with sunflowers printed on it. I grabbed an orange tank top that seemed like it was pretty small for her or something. It was at the bottom next to an old sticky note that said, "Dear newbie. Since you've been stealing my clothes, take this tank top. Love Amaryllis."

"She must have been one of the older campers." I looked around the cabin for a shower. When I got to the shower there were some dude product which I left alone and two kinds of shampoo and conditioner. Strawberry, or flowers. I chose flowers. Then the body wash. I chose flowers again. They were a pretty kind of yellow. They were all called Eternal Sunshine. I liked them so I used them. If anyone got a problem with it I was kind of brought here on short notice. I really don't have much of anything.

I got dressed once I was done. Thankfully these were old clothes she was probably planning on tossing anyways. The shorts were a little big but I planned on that. I also stole undergarments from her. Those also fit fine.

"Dang she's tiny!" I muttered to myself. I adjusted the belt and made sure the awesome sunflower buckle was showing. I am such a flowerchild.

"Rosie! We're back and we have breakfast!" It was Katie. I walked out of the bathroom. The food was on my nightstand.

"Aw. You look like a real flowerchild." She gave me a large grin and hugged me. What is with people and hugging me.

"Is that Miranda's stuff you're wearing?"

"Yeah. I don't have anything here with me except my bag of comic books I bought with my dad yesterday before we met that snake woman. So I kind of stole your guy's stuff."

"That's fine. We all have stuff in our trunks that's too small for situations like this. The Athena kids thought of it since a lot of kids come here short notice and don't have a lot of stuff. Now eat your food. We have archery first." I did as I was told. It was orange juice and a mushroom and bacon omelet. My favorite kind of omelet.

"So We do archery huh?"

"Well, right now we're trying you out on different things. Archery and swordsmanship is split based on your weapon of choice. Guns and anything you shoot goes to archery. Most anything with a blade goes into the swords class. If you have throwing knives you go into both."

"Oh. Okay. Which do you think I'll be good at?"

"Honestly? I think you'll do archery and end up with a son of Apollo."

"It's funny because plants make their food from the sun."

"So you are unopposed to the idea huh?"

"Oh silence your face."

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	6. I Will Not Bow

"Hey Katie."

"What?"

"I'm... unsure." I'm not afraid of anything. I'm just unsure. Yeah. That's it.

"Why are you unsure, Rosie?"

"What if they don't like me?"

"Our siblings?"

"Yeah." She knelt down and put both of her hands on my shoulders.

"Rosie. I'm not sure about other cabins, but in the Demeter cabin we know that without our family. Without each other, we could lose everything. We all trust each other because if we don't we could very well die. In our cabin, we do everything for family. They will accept you with open arms. That is a promise." I gave her a smile once she said that. I was still going to hide behind her and if anything went wrong I was going to run. She didn't need to know that yet though.

When Katie and I got to the practice area I saw two other kids. One of them was a guy with longish straight blonde hair and dark brown eyes practicing with two guns. He looked to be around 13. The other one was a girl that was about 15. she was also really scrawny.

"Hey, Guys! Meet your new little sister!" Katie pushed me away from behind her and put me right in front of her.

"Uh... Hi. I stole your clothes." Then I was tackle hugged by the girl.

"You're so cute!" She said in a high pitched voice as she hugged me tighter. She was like a boa constrictor! The guy finally came up after the first girl let me go.

"So this is the kid that gave the Stoll's food poisoning?" he leaned down to my level to look me in the eye.

"Do you like superheroes kid?" I grinned.

"I love superheroes!" He nodded in approval.

"I like this kid. I'm Aster and this goof ball over here is Miranda."

"I'm Rose. My chosen hero name is Botanical Girl."

"Hey Katie, we can keep her right? Can she be under my wing instead? Please?" And so like that I was under the wing of an entirely new stranger. Oh joy. Another person to get used to and another person who had to get used to my awesomeness. He took me aside and we went to the small blue shed. It was way bigger on the inside and everything was categorized.

"This is the one thing children of Athena and Ares work together on. When those two work together well you know you're screwed. In case you didn't know, Athena is the goddess of battle strategy and wisdom and crafts. Ares is the god of war. Combine those two and everyone had best run." I imagined it. I shuddered. I'm guessing they are like Sif and Loki. They probably hate each other with a burning passion so working together appears to be generally out of the question.

"Yeah. That seems terrifying."

"It is. Imagine the rest of the camp's reaction when those two cabins got so annoyed by the disorganization here that they worked together and made this place awesome. And the Hecate kids put an enchantment on the place so that it's bigger on the inside. One of them was a Whovian though, so now it's blue." I laughed at the statement. If there were major geeks of my kind here I might just like it and not run off.

"So. What kind of a kid are you?"

"I don't know. I've never held a weapon in my life."

"Anything can be a weapon, Rosie. I heard that Clarisse has killed a monster with just her freshly sharpened pencil."

"What? That's amazing! How?"

"She threw it and it hit right in between it's eyes. It was dead."

"Cool."

"From what I heard, it was." He took me to the very back to start looking for weapons. These were all bows and arrows.

"Can I have two weapons? One for close combat and one for long range?"

"I guess. Just make sure it's a magic weapon so it's easier to carry. You should be fine. Most of these are magic weapons. If not, the mist makes bows and cross bows look like slingshots. Arrows are just rocks."

"That's so cool," I muttered to myself as I looked at a close range weapon. It was about six or seven feet tall and it was like a combination of an axe and a spear. It was bronze.

"What is it?"

"That?... I don't really know. What's the label say?" He walked over to where I stood. He read a small plaque that I never noticed before.

"What's it say?"

"It's something called a Halberd." A Halberd huh? It seemed like it had more uses than a spear or a battle axe. It looked pretty cool too and like I would be a total bamf with it. I want it.

"Can I have it?"

"Sure. You said you wanted two right? Lets go pick another one." He handed me the halberd. It was well balanced but it was also a little heavy. I'll get used to it. The second weapon was a hand gun. Then he got their numbers and went to this one foot by one foot book that was essentially in a cube shape. It was a foot thick.

"Okay. Magical abilities, Magical abilities. Ah. Here we are." He was looking through the book.

"Okay, Your halberd can turn into a halberd necklace. When you unclip the charm from your necklace it will grow to full size after 20 seconds. In order to turn it back into it's original form clip the bottom back onto your necklace and it will immediately shrink back down to size," He read aloud. Then he flipped to page of the gun.

"The gun has endless celestial bronze bullets, you don't have to clean it, no maintenance required. It can transform into a hair clip that matches your godly parent if you wish. These both seem like they're pretty good choices for a beginner."

"So I get to keep them!?"

"No. They're mine now." He scooped them up and ran away laughing.

"Aster!" When I caught up to Aster just enough, I pounced, literally, on his back causing him to fall to the ground on his stomach. I twisted his arms to get what they held. My new weapons. When I got them I ran to Katie and Miranda to show them. Don't touch my stuff.

"Hey, Kid! Whatcha got there?" There was a really tall girl that was well built and muscular. Her hair and eyes were both brown.

"I just got my first weapons. A gun and a Halberd. I'm Rose."

"I'm Julia. Hand them over." She was smirking. I didn't like her. She reminded me of _them._

"Why?" I was put on the alert and I was prepared to run. I wasn't going to let her take anything from me.

"Does it matter? Give them here." She made a grab for them but I flinched hard enough that it was a dodge.

"Not without a reason."

"I got five of them." She closed her hand into a fist. I glared at her.

"Those are reasons that I won't accept." I stood tall and proud. I will not bow. Not anymore to people like her. People like her are the reason I wanted to be a superhero in the first place.

"I'm sure I'll persuade you newbie." She threw a punch and it connected with my facial regions. I flew to the ground but I held on tightly to my weapons. They were mine. She was not going to take them from me.

"Aw come on newbie. I want what you got. It could all be over if you just give me what I want."

"Why should I give some self obsessed, blood hungry, female dog with a superiority complex what's mine? If she wants it she can get it herself! There were plenty of them lining the shelves!" While I was speaking she kept beating me up for what felt like hours. I held my grip. I had to protect it.

"You little-!" She kicked me in the stomach.

"JULIA SUMMERS!" Her head whipped up. It was Chiron with Miranda. Chiron did not look happy. Katie and Aster helped me up.

"Come on, sis. Let's get you to the infirmary."

"But-" I reached for my gun and halberd.

"Aster's going to grab them for you. We have to go." There was an odd sense of urgency in her voice. Gosh I was only bleeding a lot and seriously bruised. It's not like I'm on my death bed. I can handle this. I'll be fine. I promise. I swear.

"Snitch," Julia hissed at me while she was slung over Chiron's back and taken to the Big House. He lectured her the whole way there. I have a short laugh and a smirk. She deserved every reprimanding word.

She took me to the infirmary and I got a little dizzy. So little bit dizzy I threw up. I'm having a lot of problems. When she threw up the flaps and yelled for Will I smiled a little bit.

"Sup, Will? Stoll Brothers!?" That's right. I had to share a room with the Stoll brothers. Will sighed at me.

"What did you do this time?"

"I did not bow to my oppressor who so boldly-"

"She got beat up by Julia for not giving her the new weapons she just got."

"Katie!" The twin's and I said in unison. It was going to sound really cool what I just said. I don't know why the Stoll's whined too. Well one of them did. The other one looked really happy that she was there.


	7. Breaking Point

I had to stay over night for observation. What a joke. I wasn't about to spend another day there. In the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep, I was going to grab my weapons and learn to use them. I didn't care if I was black and blue all over. They gave me some really good stuff called Ambrosia and Nectar to heal the sprains which were really minor. All I have now is bruises.

"Dad and I always did say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I shuffled painfully over to the halberd and gun and picked it up stiffly. All these bruises wouldn't make for good practice but I would do my best. What kind of superhero gets beat up just because they're kind of different? My mind wandered to captain America and I lifted my hand to my Captain America ring that rested on my thumb. I woke up one day and it was on my nightstand. There was a note that said it would protect me. I'm not dead yet so it must be working. I snuck out the front door with my halberd and gun.

It was windy so I took down my hair from it's ponytail and put it in a braid instead. In that moment I probably looked like Katie. I went straight to the arena where I saw those dummy's that fought back. I noticed them while I was running to get my weapons back from Aster.

When I got there, there were four different kinds of them. I pulled out the beginner ones and began. I got my butt kicked.

It swung from the left and I blocked it with the spear like handle of the halberd on instinct. I was certain I could get more bruises. The sword wasn't sharp at all, but it was still metal. I would definitely bruise If I got hit. I would have to be sure I was not hit. I ducked when it swung for my shoulder and jumped when it swung at my feet. This was beginner!? Hate to see advanced. Finally it hit so hard I was flung down to the ground.

"Ow," I whimpered. I had bruises there. That really hurt. It hurt a lot. My lower lip quivered from the pain but I would not cry. I can't cry. Not now. _Suck it up Buttercup!_ I grit my teeth and a couple of pained tears escaped my eyes as I got up. Maybe I should practice one the one's that don't move. Then I stopped myself. No. I am going to be just as good as everyone else. I don't care about the pain. I can deal with that later. I will beat this stupid practice dummy!

I charged at it again and I noticed that it did the same three moves over and over again. Left. Right. Up. Down. Left. Right. Up. Down. I got flung back again. I was flung back four times. On the fifth time it was sunrise. I finally backed up when it was transitioning from up to down and with a running start I jabbed it with the halberd. By that point I was in some intense pain. I was tired and sweaty. I felt like throwing up. But I felt accomplished. Then I heard a screech overhead. They were these bird ladies with talons. They looked like wrinkly old hags. Vulture and human combined. There was one.

"Back to bed Demigod!" It swooped down at me and I dodged. What the heck!? It swooped down again and I swung my halberd. Suddenly I smelled sulfur and it was raining shiny gold dust that just flew away with the wind. Then I threw up.

I was shaking uncontrollably and found it hard to stand while I tried to walk out of the arena. I was starving. I collapsed due to the physical exertion.

"I really shouldn't have left the infirmary. I want food. I want my big sisters and big brother. I want the bruises to go away already. I want to go one day here without this crap! I want to go home! I want my marvel movie night back! I want Dad back! I want to go back to being that ten year old who's dreams were unreachable and considered stupid but reached anyways because in the end it would all be worth it!" I don't know when I started to yell at the sky and started crying. I just did. It was strangely therapeutic. You know. Until I heard a rumble of thunder.

"What now?! I'm a battered ten year old kid! You kind of have to expect this kind of stuff. Un... Uncle? Would you be my uncle? I'm not sure what you are to me but I assume you are Zeus! But still. I appreaciate the powers guys, really, but why does being a demigod have to be so hard? How do demigods even do this everyday!?"

"Lot's of practice and monster run in's." I was surprised to hear a voice. I didn't want to open my eyes. I knew that voice. It was Katie. I opened my eyes a bit to see Will, Katie, Aster, and Miranda all standing before me.

"What do you guys want? If you want to laugh go ahead! I don't care anymore!" I found myself crying like a child. I am ten years old for Pete's sakes! I shouldn't cry! I was surprised to feel myself gently being picked up and taken to the infirmary again.

"I want nom noms. Some one go get me some nom noms!" I muttered loudly to the surrounding people.

"Nom Noms?"

"Yes! Nom Noms! I'm starving and require sustenance, pretty please." Whoever was carrying me, I assumed it was Will, chuckled.

"You got that from Thor."

"Yes. Yes I did. Now pretty please I'm hungry. And Tired. And sweaty. And in desperate need of Marvel."

"Yes ma'am." It was in that moment I noticed Will was kinda southern.

"I like the way you talk." He laughed a bit.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Then I Was taken to the Demeter cabin and they gave me a steady flow of ambrosia and nectar for three days. Not enough to kill me, but enough so that I was fully healed by the third day. I wanted real food. Like a salad with chicken and mushrooms and poppyseed dressing. Yeah. That's the best kind of food.

I was very happy to find that the plates and cups would give me whatever I wanted.

"This is like heaven!" I said at dinner that night. I was extremely happy with my salad. There were even cooked, buttery mushrooms on the side. I ate about three helpingsworth. I was even able to have apple juice and a big mushroom sandwich in a pretzel bun. I did of course offer that to the fire though since it was the best thing on the plate. I was amazed by all the people and all of their powers. It was like being in... Xavier's school for gifted youngsters. That's exactly what this place is only... Diviner. Wicked.

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**I'm back! So please comment on the chapter if you want to. :D Fellow Dorks and Geeks UNITE!**


	8. Shroud of Miranda

It was on my fourth week at camp that I discovered that I was primarily focusing on weapons. I hadn't worked on my mutant capabilities much, if at all. It was when Katie and Aster were gone for school and Miranda was gone on a quest, leaving me to tend to the strawberries that August. I couldn't really tend to them very well at all. I had schooling with the Athena cabin in the day time when they could and no one to help me. Even the amazing Percy Jackson was gone for college.

"Stupid water boy that can't help me water the strawberries," I grumbled to myself.

"Uh... Hi. My brother, Will, said that we should come here to see what we should do to help with the strawberries?" When I turned around there were other demigods/mutants all around my age. There was The Daughter of Athena that helped me that first day, a son of Apollo I was assuming since he was the one that spoke, and another child with curly brown hair and eyes. He seemed awkward and he had three gears on the back of his jean jacket. I'm willing to bet he's a grease monkey.

"Well... I don't have much practice with my powers so doing all of this would cause me to pass out which is becoming a bad habit of mine." I'll admit it. It was weird talking to people. I kind of just... gave up after a the first week. I didn't want to talk. I really didn't have all that much to say nowadays. What's the point in talking if there was nothing you wanted to say.

"So then what do we do?" The son of Apollo asked.

"Uh. I um... I guess um..." I paused and took in a deep breath and summoned my inner Captain America.

"First of all I have to be certain of your godly parents. If I'm right you each were sent here due to your capabilities. I want to be sure of who I assign what job."

"I'm Harley. Harley Davidson." My eyes lit up. I didn't even notice the hesitation to say his last name.

"You mean like-"

"Yes. Like the motorcycle company. Gee thanks Mom. I'm a son of Hephaestus." He seems cool. I'll have to keep him around. He looks like a beef cake! What did they feed this kid!? He also seemed pretty beat up and sad but how can a dude like that get beat up and depressed. He should be out lifting cars!

"I am Sophia Gray. Daughter of Athena." She had shoulder length curly blonde hair and large grey eyes. She seemed like a pretty okay person.

"Ha! Your name means wisdom. That can't be a coincidence. And you?"

"I am a son of Apollo. My name is Edgar Song."

"Your name reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe."

"That was another sibling of mine from way back in the day." I was surprised by that, but I had to admit that it made sense all circumstances considered.

"Oh. That's pretty awesome." He had really curly hair and large blue eyes. He seemed kind of average for a kid our age.

"Now that I know what you should be better with, I'll need Smarty and Beef Cake here to get me a whole bunch of water. Sunshine and I will be providing sun and fertile soil. When you come back with the water I need you two to try and figure out a system to get the appropriate amount of water to give to the plants. That's where Smarty pants can use her line of expertise and since the two of you will be working on the system it should work. After we do that we pull weeds. Or before. It can go either way really."

"You did not just call me Sunshine."

"Actually yes. I did just call you Sunshine." I tossed him a pair of aviators sunglasses. "Got a problem?" He just sighed informing me of my victory. I tossed the other two the same pair of sunglasses. We have a lot of them in the cabin for some odd reason.

"Now let's get to work. We have until the end of the week before Miranda comes back." Miranda never came back though. It got to the point where the four of us waited for her on the day she was supposed to come back with some other demigods. The other demigods came back, but not Miranda. We waited on the hill until sun down that day. They came back one short. There was a satyr a boy and a girl, but no Miranda. I felt panic rise within me.

"Miranda? Miranda! Where's Miranda? What happened to Miranda?" I asked the one closest to me. He looked sad and shook his head.

"No," I said quietly. This couldn't be happening. Not again. I can't lose another family member.

"She died." I bit my cheek and I tried hard to control my breathing. I wouldn't shed a tear. Not here and not now. Then Sunshine, Beef cake, and Smarty came up behind me. I should probably call then by their names. Edgar, Harley, and Sophia.

"How did she die?" Sophia asked. She stepped in front of me. I found out that she was the only one of our group of friends that didn't like superheroes.

"She saw a Dracanae. It said that it ate her sister's father. She charged into battle as soon as it said that and we haven't seen her since. We were busy running from another monster." His voice was breaking while he spoke.

"She might still be alive then."

"She's not. We went back. There was a pile of bloody human bones with a CHB Shirt and her weapon. We brought them back though for the funeral." My knees felt weak and I felt like throwing up. I guess I'm now head counselor. Yet I don't know what to do. I'm not ready for this. The next thing I saw was something I was growing painfully used to. Blackness.

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The next day, I was given the task of making her shroud by Chiron and Dionysus.

"Her what?" Chiron looked forlorn as I asked this.

"Her shroud child. It is normally the head counselor that does this since they are the most experienced. But since both of your siblings are away at school and you are acting as head counselor, you must make the shroud." I swallowed a lump in my throat. This was how I knew this was all real. Another one bites the dust. My dad really did die. Monsters can kill people. Monsters are real. My mom really is Demeter. I didn't really believe it all until now.

"How do I make the shroud? I'm only ten years old. I can't sew."

"I will help you, Rose." And help he did. By the end of the week we had a beautiful shroud to burn for her. They wrapped the bones in the shroud and burned it all in the big fire. Everyone looked sad for me. Why wouldn't they. I lost my father and a sister in the same month. Worst summer vacation ever.

After the funeral I went back to the cabin. I just sat on my bed staring at the wall, listening to piano music until I heard a knocking on the door.

"Rose? Rosie? Can you open the door?" The voice sounded familiar.

"You can do it. If you can knock you can surely open a door." In came Annabeth, Will, and some other guy with really curly hair. He was short and Latino and had elfish features. He seemed semi muscular and had a tool belt so I assumed he was a child of Hephaestus because of the belt. Annabeth came to the bedside and sat down beside me as did everyone else.

"So... How are you doing?" Will asked me.

"How do you think I'm doing?" I stared down at my lap and grit my teeth. I felt weak. I hated feeling weak. I want to be strong.

"You must be really frustrated," Annabeth asked me. I vaguely heard Elf-boy in the background asking why he had to be there. Why do you have to be here? Will just hit him on the arm. I bit my lip. I will not cry. I can't cry. Crying means you are weak and vulnerable.

"You know. My dad once said that crying doesn't make you weak. It just means that you've been strong for too long. When was the last time you cried because you were sad?" Four weeks ago, but I'm not telling you that. I bit my lip and held my breath. I didn't want to start hyperventilating.

"Hey there, Chica. We're here to help you out with this. We've all been there and two out of three of us got to being the head counselor because of it. We want to help you. I'm Leo. I'm hot stuff." He summoned a fire that danced in his palm. "Literally. I'm hot stuff." I gave a small chuckle that gave way to tears.

"When was the last time you cried, Rosie?" Then Annabeth hugged me and let me cry on her shoulder.

"I feel responsible f-for h-h-her d-dea-death," I got out. My lungs were spasming to get more air but they were full. It broke up my words while I was talking. It continued until I forgot to breathe.

"You're hyperventilating. Hold your breath. You have to control your breathing." I held my breath even with the spasms but my body still twitched for a while until in a controlled breath I slowly let it go once I knew my heartbeat had calmed down some. I latched onto Annabeth for all I was worth. Annabeth would be an awesome mom. She kind of has to be since she's counselor of her cabin.

"Why do you feel responsible, Rosie?" Leo asked me once I calmed down.

"She died killing the snake lady that killed my dad."

"Then it's not your fault. She went in without a plan and wasn't trained well enough. If anything it's the monster's fault. She wasn't very old either and she was really thin. Not to mention her weapon is long range and Dracanae are good at dodging. The best thing to kill them with is a spear, a halberd, or a sword," Annabeth prattled off. Then the Stoll brothers waltzed in.

"We heard there was a sad little child of Demeter?"

"We're here to make her smile again!" They both had goofy grins. I stood up quickly and dried my tears.

"What do you want Stolls?" They looked at each other and grinned.

"Well we want to see you smile, little flower." We all sighed at them.

"What did you two have in mind?" Annabeth asked them both. They grinned again.

"Well... We heard that back home she would have a Marvel Movie night..." I Finally looked at them

"Where did you hear that?"

"Katie," they said in unison. They made a signal to someone outside and they brought in a television and all the things necessary for a movie marathon. They pushed the beds along my wall together and brought in bean bags. Soon the three demigods that had been helping me out with strawberries came in. And so the Marvel Movie night began.

I didn't smile that night and I didn't until a few months later, but I know I would have been much worse without my Marvel Movie night. I'll be a superhero. Every superhero has their tragedies but that will keep them moving.

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**Hey guys! It's a double length chapter today! Yaaaaaaaay. Review if you want to. You know. Just press the button and type some words and you're done, bro. Sis. Whatever you are. You could be an it for all I care. I don't judge. PEACE! :D**


	9. Meeting Death

Being cabin counselor was hard. I had to make sure that my cabin was spic and span all the time. I would sweep under the beds with a broom since I don't like the noise of a sweeper, dust, de-bunny the roof (now I know why Katie hates it so much), and clean the windows. by the time I was done I had missed breakfast. I also had to take out the garbage to the incinerator.

Needless to say my allergies were a jerk to me that entire time and I had to go down to the infirmary a lot for medication. Eventually they just gave me a bottle of over the country allergy medicine and said take one a day. On top of cabin care, I had to tend to the strawberry gardens and attend meetings. It was a lot to do for an eleven year old. And sometimes I would skip the campfire to practice my powers. I was starting to find white hairs and it's only been a couple of weeks since Marvel Movie night.

"Hey mutant buddy!" Not to mention the Stoll brothers and Katie's friends have made it a point to visit me a lot. Even with their visits I felt... alone. I felt Travis poke my cheek.

"Mutant buddy. Heeeeeey mutant buddy!" I ignored him as best as I possibly could and focused on the chore at hand.

"Aw, who's a good little mutant buddy!" Connor started to pinch my other cheek. If I ignore them maybe they'll go away.

"Mutant buddy boo! Come on little mutant buddy boo!" Travis said in a voice that sounded like my great aunt Hildaguard when I was a baby.

"Aw, come on mutant buddy." Connor said. He made his voice sound like a forty year old smoker with a new Yorker accent. The corner of my mouth twitched a little. Then they started to tickle my sides.

"Will you stahp!?" Travis snorted and Connor just started laughing.

"Stahp? Did you mean stop, Rosie-poo?"

"Don't call me that!" I said in a slight fury.

"She's just like Katie. She's a mini Katie in training!" Connor fell to the ground laughing. What's so funny? I found nothing about the situation funny at all.

"Can you guys please leave. I need to get this done or else I'll miss breakfast. Again."

"We just thought you liked to sleep in."

"No. Truth is I've been skipping some meals for the past few weeks or so to get done everything I need to,." I said while I finally hit the three fourths mark on the window. There were three of them.

"But you need all the nutrients you can get. You're like... Ten."

"I know that why do you think I'm trying to get this done soon." They looked at each other.

"What do you think Trav? She's a growing girl after all."

"And it's not healthy for her to skip meals..." I heard the squirt bottles before I saw them. They really were nice people once you get down to it.

"Hey Travis," I said.

"Yes, little mutant buddy?"

"You should date Katie. I'll be sure to tell her about this." Conner started to laugh very loudly.

"What?!"

"Yeah, Bro. You two would be good together!"

"Connor agrees with me, Travis!"

"I-I-I... MUTINY!"

"No Travis," I said.

"Not mutiny," Connor continued.

"Its called being a little sibling." It felt weird but fun to talk in unison. For the first time that week, I got my chocolate chip waffles. I offered one to the fire for my mom and went back to my cold and lonely seat at my cold and lonely table. A ways away I saw a boy wearing all black sitting at a table much like my own. Once I got done eating, I approached his table. He looked to be about sixteen years old.

"Who are you?" I tilted my head to the left side. He glanced up from his food.

"I'm Nico Di Angelo. Who are you?" He said with a small smile.

"I... Am... Your worst nightmare rolled up into an organic bundle of strangeness named Rose." He snorted.

"Your an okay kid. You use a halberd and a gun right?" I almost smirked. Almost.

"Yep. What do you use?" He smirked at me.

"I use a stygian Iron Sword."

"Okay."

"I'm guessing you've been through a lot for how you look." I felt almost insulted.

"And how do I look?" I said with a sigh.

"Tired. You have some serious bags under your eyes like you don't sleep nearly enough. You're clothes don't fit so I'm guessing you don't eat much anymore. You don't smile from the few day's I've been here so I'm guessing you lost some one or some people or something that was very near and dear to your heart. So far only children of Hades wear all black. You sit at your table all alone so I am certain you have far too much responsibility than you feel you are ready for. You're masking your pain," He laced his fingers together and rest his chin on top of the interlaced fingers. I was shocked. I thought I covered up the bags under my eyes with makeup well enough that I don't look like I have two black eyes.

"W-what do you know!?"

"I know your highly anxious, scared and lonely. I know all of this because I was there. I still am sometimes. Who are you a child of?"

"...Demeter."

"I am a son of Hades, Lord of the underworld. Pleasure to meet you. Your mother is the mother of my step mother. So I suppose you are my aunt but I won't call you that."

"I don't care if you do or don't." He smiled a little bit. He got up from the table and I bounced from foot to foot.

"It'll get better for you, kid. I promise you that much." With that he melted into the shadows.

I stood there in shock for a few moments. How did he know I wasn't sleeping? I started to walk subconsciously. I didn't know how to take care of myself. Even with the occaisional help I got I couldn't go on very well. I would live off of coffee, but sugar calms ADHD kids down. What do I do?

I took a deep breath and went to the cabin. Maybe I can get in a nap before the meeting later today. I was really tired and I was sure Chiron would understand. While I was laying in my bed though. I had a realization. I wasn't being a superhero. I was being beaten down without a single word against it. And that is not how the Demetrius family lives. It never has been. No matter how hard things got there was no such thing as rest. Only your strength against the rest of the world as it pushed you down.


	10. The One

That night was the annual meeting. I don't know who's idea it was to give a lot of demigod's spinny chairs with wheel's but who ever had the idea was kind of awesome. I spun around a lot in my chair and I hate to admit it. Everyone was there. Even Percy was back from college to attend the meeting. Apparently it was super serious and that they should only vouch intense heroes. Katie had forgotten though so I was taking her place. There were so many grownup's here. I felt like the puzzle piece that didn't quite fit.

I honestly didn't know what to do until I heard the gavel hit the little wooden circle.

"Young demigods! You must all be wondering why I have gathered you here. I have gathered you all here to speak of something of utter importance."

"If it's so important then say it already." I mumbled to myself. I was so tired.

"Very well then, Rosie." I froze in my seat. I wanted to sink into the floor and never be seen again. "The reason I have called you all here is on account of Hera's lotus staff being stolen. There is a vary small amount of data gathered upon the subject and Hera is requiring that it be retrieved. She has given the demigods the deadline of the winter solstice to find it and bring it back to her." Immediately all Hades broke loose. Everyone started yelling and arguing. I covered my ears and hid under the table. It brought back memories of some of the extremely old fashioned neighbors we used to have in Virginia. They loathed my family which was why we moved to New York. Them and my aunt, Belinda. She didn't like my dad and wouldn't stop yelling at him and threatening to take me away.

It was like that horrible old house in Virginia. When I heard the sound of glass breaking I collapsed into myself and pressed my hands to my ears until I got a headache. Then I heard a sound like a blade on a chalk board and I almost screamed. Almost.

Okay fine I screamed.

"SILENCE! We are bringing in RED." Red? Who was Red? I could hear gentle foot prints until I saw feet. They were white converse with a paint splatter pattern. I liked them. They were also wearing blue jeans that had been doodled all over and signed. Then all of a sudden I saw a face.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I screamed. They grabbed my hand and pulled me out from under the table and set me gently up on the table.

Now that I saw her face she had curly red hair and very pretty green eyes.

"Black Widow! OHMIGOSH YOU'RE BLACK WIDOW!" She put her hand over my mouth to get me to shut up and started to talk.

"You are the one."

"Whoa there. Careful what you say. I mean, You're pretty and all but you are a decade ahead of me and I don't swing that way. I'm sure that there are plenty of beautiful women who are_ your_ age, but uh... no thanks." A lot of the people in the room snickered. Some laughed profusely aka the Stoll brothers and some other campers like Leo Valdez. Others had the grace not to laugh at all.

"What!? Ew! No! No no no! Ugh. I need to word things better."

"Yeah you kind of do."

"Don't make me whack you with my blue hair brush!" I shut up instantly after that. So did everyone else.

"If you don't mind my asking, What's so bad about a blue hairbrush?"

"I beat up a titan with it and harmed a giant with it. I have used it to destroy monsters." My eyes widened. She would be the PERFECT BLACK WIDOW! Fangirling meter is at maximum. Black widow is my hero! OH. MY. GOSH! THIS CAN NOT BE HAPPENING! I squeed on the inside.

"That is SO COOL!" I said. I was smiling on the inside. Wow that sounded so stereotypically emo.

"Yeah, Sure. But you are the one who has to lead the quest."

"I can't even lead a game of simon says!"

"Too bad. I had a vision of the quest and you were in it. You, a daughter of Apollo, and a son of Poseidon born when Percy was 12." With that being said. She left.

"Dude. You just got a quest," someone on the other side of the table said.

"Nah, really!? I just thought she was telling me about her pink frosted doughnut with sprinkles!" I exclaimed to the gentleman in the very back. I sighed and hopped off of the table. To be truthful I was scared to go on a quest. My sister died on a quest. It was dangerous. Miranda was way older than me too. I was only ten years old. I felt sick to my stomach but I knew I had to do it. If I didn't then who would? I took a deep breath to try and calm down my racing heart and proceeded to the Apollo Cabin. I had to go find a daughter of Apollo.

I knocked on the door tentatively. My heart beat was hammering in my ears. Will my stupid heart ever shut up!?

"Whatcha doin?" I jumped out of my skin and screamed. Only a little though.

"W-Will! What are you doing here?" He just rose an eyebrow at me. I suddenly remembered that he was a son of Apollo.

"You seem nervous."

"Me? Nervous? Ha! Hahaha! Ha... heh." He just blinked twice. Was he always so freakishly tall? Why was he so tall? then I realized his mouth was moving.

"Uuhhhh... what did you just say? I couldn't hear you over the sound of my own awesomeness."

"Sure you didn't. I was asking if you wanted to talk to my little sister. I only have one."

"I-I um... Sure." He walked inside the cabin. Oh Gods. What have I agreed to do? What have I been chosen to do? I felt sick to my stomach. I wanted nothing more than to hide in my cabin until the end of forever.

"You coming inside or what?" I jumped a bit and walked inside. It seemed so... Cool in here. There was so much music and artistic things. I noticed some herbs growing on the edge of the windowsill. They were almost dead. I traveled towards them against my own will. They needed water and proper soil. Maybe this was a sign. A plant needs three things to grow.

Water. The son of Poseidon.

Sunlight. The daughter of Apollo.

Soil and a seed. Me. A daughter of Demeter. Maybe this was just the right combination.

"I see you found our failing medicinal herbs," I heard a very quiet voice say from behind me. She had short blonde hair and large blue eyes. She was my age if not a little younger. She was wearing a boy's camp tee, some boy's shorts, and some really cool yellow converse.

"They're not dead yet. I'm Rose. Rose Demetrius."

"I-I'm. I'm Lydia."

"Lydia. You sound like a doll. I can fix your soil but these things need watered too. I know just the person to help us. Come on, Lydia! We're going on an adventure!"

"An adventure? Why?"

"Because. You are my new best friend!" I grabbed her arm and ran out of her cabin.

"Oh Zeus why!?" I dragged her all the way to cabin three. Poseidon's cabin. I banged on the door with my fist. I knew Percy (somewhat) therefore this should not surprise him.

"HEY YO PERCY! OPEN UP! YOU KNOW WHY I'M HERE!" I shouted through the door.

"What are you doing!?" Then the door opened to reveal a startled Percy and a young boy. The exact person I was looking for.

"You!" I pointed at the boy. He was kind of scared.

"Me?"

"Yes! You! You are going to go on your very first quest with me! Oh by the way, I'm Rose and this is Lydia, isn't she a doll? But yeah you're coming with us." I grabbed his arm and dragged him away.

"Percy! These strange people are kidnapping me!"

"Welcome to Camp Halfblood, little bro!" I took them back to the Apollo Cabin with me.

"Do you guys have your weapons yet?"

"No. I was about to get my first when some crazy chick kidnapped me from my cabin!" Oh. I did kind of kidnap him. Oops.

"I use a cross bow."

"Coolness. And sorry about that, dude. If it makes you feel any better you're going to be a hero of the most epical kind."

"Did you seriously just say coolness and epical?" We stopped and when I let go neither one of them ran away. They're so weird.

"Yes. Yes I did. Why aren't you two running away? Most people run at first sight of me. Especially when they're my age."

"Wonder why?" The boy said. Lydia actually looked a little understanding.

"Now. I was just told that Hera's lotus staff was stolen by someone."

"What?!" Lydia panicked just a little.

"Oh no, I have no idea what that is!"

"Okay, Sarcastic Sue! The lotus staff is her symbol of power and she is the queen of the gods. She could squish any one of us like a bug if she wanted to."

"Oh. That's actually pretty serious. So who's going to find it. Surely it's not-"

"Three ten year old demigods, one of which doesn't sleep or eat very much, one that's intensely shy, and the last one being a sarcastic son of Poseidon who is more than likely a newbie who was brought here because something horrible happened? Yes. Yes it is and trust me. I don't like it any more than either of you two do. Luckily it's early September so we have a lot of time to find it. She's being merciful with us. She probably knows we're only ten."

"How Come you're the leader, then?"

"Well let's see. I am a temporary counselor, I was just told by the oracle herself that I was destined to lead this quest, and I'm the one that brought us all together. I'm leading. But before we go on a quest, Bear with me on this, but you are all going to be superheroes of the awesomest caliber."

"W-what!? I know I love superheroes but I really don't think that the shy girl should be a superhero... for... um... obvious reasons." Her already quiet voice slowly got quieter and quieter as she spoke.

"Do either of you have any powers yet?"

"Not that I know of."

"I don't think so."

"Oh boy. I'm assuming that since your siblings have powers you would too. We could always ask Chiron about potential powers we might have," I suggested. the boy just sighed and went along with it.

"Onward to the Big House!" We started off walking again.

"You never did give us your name?" Lydia said to the boy.

"I'm Alexander."

"Your name means protector of mankind," I pointed out.

"And yours is the national flower of England standing for bravery and passion. What's your point?" I shrugged and we just walked onwards in silence until we ran into Chiron. We told him our predicament and he just gave us all a small smile and handed us a book in ancient greek.

"So... The Big Guide to Demigods, by the Athena cabin, eh? Where do you want to go to read this?" I asked.

"How about we go to the Poseidon Cabin? My brother's there and he could help me out with the discovery of powers."

* * *

"We have returned!" I said as I walked into the cabin unceremoniously with Alex and Lydia.

"I'm sorry for coming in unannounced."

"Hi Percy." Alex seemed pretty awkward.

"We were wondering if you could help us. We wanted to know what kinds of powers we were likely to have. We asked Chiron and he gave us a book but we need some help." He took the book from my arms.

"Well. Let's go see Will and Call Katie up. Maybe They can help too." This was lot of walking around camp but I was used to it. Once we gathered up Will we went to the beach. I may have been here for a while but I had never seen the ocean.

"Wow," I whispered. It was beautiful. The ocean looked like green glass against the sky. The sun was slowly setting. There were even the trees close by. "It's even better than all of the pictures people show me." I took of my socks and shoes and stood near the water letting the small tides cover my feet. The sand still had remnants of warmth and the ocean was cold, but that was fine by me. Out of my peripheral vision, I could see that Lydia and Alex had joined me in my marveling of the ocean.

"Come on guys. I promise, I'll ask my mom if I can bring you guys to our cabin next summer, but right now we need to figure out what each of you can do," Percy said as he guided us back over to Will. There was a rainbow being made with a flashlight, and a crystal.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, We wish to reach Katie Gardener at her home in Virginia." He threw a gold coin into the rainbow and it disappeared. The coin was replaced by my sister eating dinner with her family.

"Woah," Alex, Lydia and I were starting to speak in unison. This is bad.

"Rosie? Hi Rosie! Did Miranda teach you how to Iris message already?" I bit my lip and looked away. She didn't know. She's not been kept in the loop.

"Katie, who's this?" It was a male's voice.

"Dad, this is my new little sister, Rosie. I'm not sure where Miranda is. She's probably making the iris message which is why we can't see her." I bit my lip so hard, I drew blood. So she had a dad. How am I going to tell her?

"Rosie... Where is Miranda?" Why wasn't anyone saying anything?! I didn't trust myself to speak.

"Rosie?" She was starting to get worried. I couldn't blame her. I clenched my fists. I moved my jaw, opening and closing my mouth, but there was a lump in my throat not allowing me to speak.

"Rose. I need you to tell me what happened."

"M-mir-anda... Sh-She..." I just started shaking my head.

"Oh. Oh no. Dad, I have to go. Rosie, I'll be there in a few hours." And then the connection was severed and I just ran back to my cabin. I really didn't want to lose my cool in front of them. Too bad they ran after me.


	11. Fireflies, Fishboys, and Flowergirls

I slammed the door to my cabin. I was hyperventilating and I felt sick to my stomach. She had a dad. I should have known that she had a dad. He reminded me of my own. Just so ridiculously calm all the way till the end. and she had to mention Miranda. This was a horrible idea. Why did I have to go and ask for help? It's my fault anyways. I stopped my pacing at the thought.

"It's not my fault that two people died. Annabeth said that it wasn't my fault, but it is. It's my fault. My fault. All my fault." I sank down to my knees. They're going to hate me now. I felt a light tap on the back of my head.

"You idiot..." through bleary eyes I looked up and saw Alex and Lydia. Lydia was the one that had spoken.

"Saying things like that isn't going to bring them back, stupid. And It's only your fault if you were the one that acted. If you murdered them. Now get up. You have training to do. You are our leader after all."

"ROSIE!" Then came Percy and Will. I was flung over someone's shoulder.

"Hey! Put me down!" I yelled, sniffling. I hit their back. I didn't know who had flung me over their shoulder though.

"Not till you stop being all sad-like and depressed! I know how you feel, I really do, but you can't be all sad about it!"

"How do you know!?" I kept hitting their back. It was Percy.

"Because I lost my mom for a while."

"So!? You got your mom back! I'll never get my dad back and I will never get Miranda back! Now put me down!" He carried me out of my cabin and back to the beach. He ran up to the dock.

"Oh gosh I knew it! You're going to feed me to your fishy brethren and feed my bones to your dog! Someone help me this guy is insane and he won't put me down! I don't like being carried like this Percy!"

"Are you done?"

"Wait a second. AUGH! HOW DARE YOU, PERCY FOR HEFTING THEE OVER THINE SHOULDER, YOU FIEND! now I'm done."

"Okay. Take a deep breath kid!" I did as I was told and then he jumped into the water. Then I remembered that I can't swim very well. I probably should have said something especially when I failed so bad that I started to sink a little.

_Oh crap! I'm going to die! I'm going to die before I even go on a quest! I fail!_ Then my head was surrounded by a bubble. I was still freaking out, holding my breath.

_Rosie! Breath!_ I know that voice. I opened my eyes to see Alex in front of me, Sitting on the ocean floor. I looked down and saw that his chest was moving and he was totally calm. What is this madness!?

"Why did you call me Rosie?" I then covered my mouth. I just talked... under the sea. If only my hair was red!

"It seemed like a good nickname." He was laughing at me. I could feel the blush.

"So... Did you always know you could do this?"

"Not the air bubble. Percy just threw you in and said for me to save you. He taught me how to do the air bubble and told me the uses for it that he has found. It's apparently really good for when you don't want to get your bandages wet."

"Huh. Well then. Now can we please go back to the surface?"

"He said for us not to come back until we combined both of our powers to get us back to the surface."

"What?! Oh well. Now that I look at it... It's beautiful under the ocean too." And it was. I liked the way the light reflected off the water making everything under the water this perfect golden blue.

"Yeah. It really is, Isn't it. Do you think you can make underwater plants grow?"

"I can try." I slowly pushed my hand towards some seaweed and slowly moved my hands up and down while concentrating. It started to grow. I then motioned to directly underneath us and made some intensely thick Maiden's Hair grow from the rock.

"I need you to make the water around this like a rope and bind it all together. If I can make it grow long enough we should be able to get back to the surface." He shut his eyes tightly. Soon there was another splash. Then we saw a light. She had the power of bioluminescence. Sweet.

We were running out of sunlight anyways. Alex formed an air bubble around her and I positioned her over the plants Alex and I were over. Alex concentrated hard and condensed the maiden's hair with the water. The little bit of sunshine being radiated from Lydia was just what we needed to make the maiden's hair grow. With a whole lot of energy and concentrated, along with some water powers from Alex, we got back up to the surface.

We were spat out on the dock. Percy and Will were grinning at us. I heard a slow clapping from behind me, but I was too exhausted to turn around.

"Good job, Baby Sister!" It was Aster, who I knew, knew about Miranda. "I'm proud of you!"

"Thanks." I was panting and trying to catch my breath. Then all I could hear were soft clopping sounds.

"May I ask what is going on here and why there are three soaked demigods, one of whom is glowing like a lightening bug?" Oh. Chiron.

* * *

**HELLO FRIENDLIES! soooo. Please read and review. I want to know your feelings and thoughts about the plot and what's going on. It's interesting to hear. :)**


	12. Not Nemo

Percy and Will just stood there awkwardly.

"Uh. Well you see. It was power training. The best way to train them is by throwing them into the deep end. Literally." Chiron rose a greying brow. I started to shiver. I was so cold. Lydia wasn't cold since she was radiating light and warmth, and since Alex was a son of Poseidon the water really didn't affect him. I was the only one who was affected.

"Ch-ch-chiron. C-c-cold." Chiron drew his attention to me.

"Percy. Could you please dry the poor dear off? And Will, could you please go gather some blankets for her and your sister?"

"Yes, sir." Will ran off in the direction of the cabins.

"Sure." Percy took all of the water from my clothes, but I was already frozen. He took the water from all of us actually and returned it all to the ocean. I now smelled like flowers and the ocean, which admittedly wasn't too bad of a combination. I really just wanted to go back to my cabin and hide under my warm blankets and listen to II Mondo e nostro, and some piano music. I started to sing quietly to myself. I knew the meaning of quiet.

"Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe  
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo  
One fond embrace,  
A hoʻi aʻe au  
Until we meet again." I remembered hearing Miranda and Katie sing this at nights. Miranda was originally from Hawaii. I wonder what it's like there. I had taken to singing it in either the Hawaiian language or English at times like this. I only knew that one part though.

"Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe  
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo  
One fond embrace,  
A hoʻi aʻe au  
Until we meet again." I sang that one part once I was sitting on my bed in my cabin again. Chiron said that they would be gathering information soon and we would leave in the morning. I listened to some of the songs on the CD's Miranda had. She had a lot that were from Lilo and Stitch.

I always wanted to go Hawaii. I've always heard it was warm, had a beautiful ocean, and had so much plant life. To think. Tonight was our classic movie night. I think. It was Sunday right? On Friday was Marvel Movies. Saturday was Disney and Pixar, Sunday was our whatever day. We would watch movies for three days. Those three days were generally silent.

Soon I felt something being dropped onto my shoulders. It smelled strongly of what could only be described as sunshine and was very warm. It was a comforting warmth. Like the soft warmth of the sunshine. I yawned loudly and looked down ant what was on my shoulders. It was Will's yellow jacket. I felt myself being picked up sloppily.

"Ugh. Why is she so heavy, Percy?" I nearly pinched Alex for that comment.

"She's not heavy, you're just young. Hand her here. I'll carry her back to her cabin." Percy reached down to pick me up. Why do they want to carry me? I know I'm shaking like a leaf but I can take care of myself. I've been doing it for weeks now. I don't understand it. Why do they want to help me so much?

"I c-can walk." I clutched the jacket closer. It was warm. Maybe Apollo kids radiate heat like the sun. That would make sense. I think I might just steal Will's jacket. It had the perfect blanket warmth. I yawned again. It was the perfect warmth. So perfect it was making me sleepy. So when Will stepped between Percy and Alex to pick me up I fell asleep on him. Children of Apollo are cool. So are children of Poseidon but when it comes to being freezing, I would rather be around a child of Apollo.

When I woke up I immediately noticed a rocking motion. Will was sitting in a rocking recliner in the big house with me just sitting beside him. He was awake and reading a book. Why I was here I hadn't a clue.

"Will?" I rubbed my eyes to get the sleepiness out of them.

"Good morning Sunflower!" He put a hand to my head. Why was he doing that.

"Looks like you sweat out your fever. That's good."

"I what?" I was so confused.

"You had a small fever from being so cold. And since you were a cold and a little feverish, Chiron suggested that we sleep here. You're like a little sister to me so I really don't want to see you sick. That and you had already fallen asleep on me so I thought the warmth would be good for you." He turned another page in the book that was written in Ancient Greek. The cover had Percy's name on it. Literally. Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

"Thanks, bro," I said sleepily. Then I realized what I had said. "Will! I meant Will I swear!" He just gave me a small smile and put the book away.

"Come on, sis," he said jokingly. I ducked my head down and followed him out of the house and to the cabins. We stopped at my own to acquire my things for the quest then we went to breakfast. It would be hard to say goodbye to the people who had been like siblings to me. We were to leave at noon.

Then Katie showed up. She seemed frantic and panicked and tired. Her hair was all out of place, her clothes were disheveled, and she was missing a shoe. What had happened to her. She speed walked toward me unevenly. When she got close enough she sprinted and I was pulled into a giant bear hug.

"K-Katie!" I heard her sniffle and she hugged me even tighter. Then she started to say over and over again that she was sorry. Sorry she wasn't there when I needed her. Sorry for not answering the iris messages she was sent. Sorry for soaking my shirt with her tears. I wasn't paying attention to the rest as I was focusing on trying to get airflow into my lungs.

"Katie, you're hugging her too tight. You're going to kill her," Will said with a small smile. Katie jumped away at that.

"Please tell me you won't do that when I leave." I rubbed my sternum in pain.

"What do you mean when you leave?" She went pale.

"I got a quest." Her eyes widened and she gasped. Her normally happy and light hazel eyes were a rich dark brown with sadness.

"No." I paused. Did I just hear her right? "No. No. No no no no no. I won't let another baby sibling die by the hands of a quest. I forbid it."

"Excuse me?" I put my hand on my left hip and shifted my weight to that side. I rose both of my eye brows.

"You heard me. I said no."

"But the oracle said-!"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT THE ORACLE SAID!" She was reaching her breaking point. To hear her voice raised at me was scary, but I didn't care. I would not back down.

"I'M NOT MIRANDA!"

"She died for you... and now you're going to give it all up. Y-... You think you can do these things but..." I glared.

"But what?"

"You seem to have it stuck in your head that you're invincible! News flash sis, you're not strong enough to do much of anything yet! Right now you are weak and pathetic and that will make monsters go after you! You would be too weak to battle them! You obviously haven't taken care of yourself so what makes you think you can go on a quest?" Her words sliced deep wounds into my heart. I refused to let the pain show.

"Have you tried looking at yourself lately. Your clothes are stained and nasty. Ripped and torn. Deshiveled. Your hair is all over the place and your nails obviously were bitten until they bled. You have bags under your eyes much worse than my own and your face is oily as is your hair. You dare say that I don't take care of myself well enough? Look in a mirror, sis."

"You don't understand do you? You are ten years old and you have bags under your eyes! You think you can do things like this but you just can't, Nemo!" I clenched my fists. I thought she would have understood. Been proud of me even.

"I guess it's a good thing I wasn't named Nemo then, huh?" I spat at her. Then I walked away and fought tears.

* * *

**I'm Back from Band Camp! I was sick most of the time though. Like... Intensely sick. bleh. :( Read and review! :D**


	13. Running Away

She didn't understand. I couldn't help that I was destined to go on a quest! I couldn't help that Miranda died while on a quest. It wasn't my fault so why was she acting like this? It was so confusing. I thought that she would be proud that I was destined for something better than pain and turmoil. Something that would help someone regardless of who or what they were. I didn't understand.

People say I'm just like Katie? It's time to go on a quest and to prove them wrong. I snuck back to the cabin. When I looked through the window there looked like there was a storm of some kind. like someone threw a tantrum. I could see that my questing bag was practically shredded and destroyed. When I saw that I knew exactly who did this and I knew she was probably looking for me to keep me from leaving.

I took a step back to get a running start at the window. My arms could only ust support my weight and my legs were scrambling to get a hold on the cabin. Once they got a hold on the brick I got over the window sill and tumbled onto my bed. I grabbed a bag that Miranda had left behind, a green drawstring bag with cherry blossom designs on it. I put several different kinds of plant seeds in there from our secret stash, my gun, celestial bronze bullets, two huge bottles of water, and a change of clothes inside of it frantically. I was running short on time.

"Rosie!" I heard a breaking voice yell my name. I ran to my bed and used it as a spring board to get out of the window. I hit the ground just outside of my window and his myself in the rose bushes.

"Rose! Rosie, where are you!? Don't leave me!" I winced. I felt a little bit guilty. She seemed really upset. But I have to do this. She was inside the cabin from the sounds of it. I heard the window above me slam shut. I waited until she had definitely turned around and sprinted for the Poseidon cabin. Maybe Alex and Percy would grant me sanctuary. She would probably look in the Apollo cabin first.

I went behind the Poseidon cabin and climbed through the window. "Poseidon forgive me." I whispered. I was breathing hard. When I finally could stand up straight I noticed Percy and Alex in what seemed to be the middle of a game of checkers.

"Uhhh..." Percy said intelligently.

"Katie. Crazy. Won't let me leave. Sanctuary. Please." I could only speak in choppy sentences. Percy seemingly understood.

"Oh. Is that why... She's been looking everywhere for you," Percy said to me. I nodded.

"I know. Why do you think I'm so out of breath. I miss using doors." I slumped to the ground. Percy sympathetically patted my shoulder.

"If it's any consolation, it gets worse. And you'll be buff by the time you die."

"Gee, bro. That's definitely what she wants to hear right now," Alex said sarcastically. I just tried to breath normally. I was better, but not at my best. _Weak. _The word rolled through my head like the waves of an ocean. I held my breath for sixty seconds to get control of my heart and lungs. Once I did I could finally feel that sharp pang in my chest when the words she said started to echo.

_Here in the Demeter cabin we do for family._

_She died for you and now you're going to give it all up. _

_Weak and pathetic. _

_Weak and pathetic. _

_Weak. And. Pathetic. _I kept a straight face in spite of the words I continuously heard. They were just words. I'll be fine.

"Alex." His head whipped around towards me.

"Yeah?"

"You packed?"

"Not really."

"Then get packed. Now go get Lydia and make sure she's packed. If Katie is there act totally oblivious to the fact that she's looking for me, and say that I was looking for Lydia with a packed bag in the forest. Once she bolts that way make sure she gets packed and bring her here. We stay here until night fall and then we leave, got it?" I said seriously. I came up with the whole thing on the fly and to be honest it sounded like a good plan. But the fact that Alex was just stanging there having a total herp derp moment didn't really help. Percy was just staring at me oddly. Almost like I had reminded him of someone.

"Well?" I glared at Alex. "You have your orders, now move." Maybe I can lead. Maybe I can do this..._ You think you can do things like this but you just can't! _With those words he ran out of the cabin as fast as possible.

"Percy, would you be a dear and hand me a bag and help me pack you're brother's things?" He rose the other brow at me and I sighed. "Just do it, you dork!" He got this weird smirk on his face and chuckled a little at the word dork. I rolled my eyes. He tossed me a sea green bag.

"Wait why am I handing YOU the bag? I'll pack it." He said with a scoff. I just shrugged and let him take over. I just sat on the unused bed in the corner. When I woke up it was to being sprayed with a very cold water bottle and a soft warm light in a dark cabin.

"It's time." I just nodded and stood up. There were butterflies in my stomach. I checked myself over. I had a green zip up hoodie, a black shirt, and flexible skinny jeans with a brown leather belt. I cut all my wavy hair to shoulder length with Percy's sword, and pulled it back into a short pony tail and flicked up the hood. Lydia had a yellow hoodie and an orange, long sleeved shirt with light wash blue jeans. Alex had his hair parted to the side and it covered his left brow. he had on a black leather jacket, a sea green shirt, and dark wash jeans. Everyone had sneakers or converse.

"Are you ready?" Percy asked. No. No I'm not. My heart was racing. I knew what I was about to do was bad, but I also knew that I had to do it.

"Let's go." I stood up and walked for the door. Percy trapped us all in a giant bear hug before we left.

"Good luck."

"We're demigods. We don't have luck," I said simple before heading out the door. I heard him chuckle before Lydia, Alex and I shut the door. Through the chilly, night air we made it to the borders of camp, by that giant pine tree. We clasped each other's hands and took a deep breath and jumped across the border. The feeling of safety completely abandoned. We walked for miles holding each other's hands for comfort. I hadn't held someone's hand in years let alone two people's hands. That night, we hid in an old abandoned apartment building in New York. It was cold and we huddled together for warmth. It was then that I knew, so long as I stick around with these two, as long as we stayed in this group. We would be alright.


End file.
